What are Approver Roles?

The Approvers generally provide spending authority, chart string accuracy, and departmental permission.

Each department will define individuals to occupy Travel System Approver roles that best support their travel model.

If multiple departments are represented in the distribution of charges, multiple representative approvers will be identified and included in the DocuSign sign-off.

Each approver role is prefixed by PA or RB in the Travel System, indicating a role for Pre-Approval or Reimbursement. The approver roles can be split between requests for each department, or can be shared by the same person.

ROLE

ROLE

PA-APPROVER

RB-APPROVER

The Approver can perform all tasks as a Reviewer would.
Approvers are included in the Pre-Approval/RB-Approval Routing step in DocuSign for each chart string used.
Any PA-Approver for the department can Submit a Pre-Approval to DocuSign, even if not the Approver identified for the travel request.
Any RB-Approver for the department can Submit a Reimbursement to DocuSign, even if not the Approver identified for the Reimbursement request.

PA- ADDITIONAL APPROVER

RB-ADDITIONAL APPROVER

The Additional Approver is an optional approver in the approval routing step.

PA-NEXT HIGHER AUTHORITY

RB-NEXT HIGHER AUTHORITY

The Next Higher Authority is required for any travel which is outside of the US.

The RB-Next Higher Authority is required for reimbursements that involve:

any travel which is outside of the US
Out of state or overnight travel without Pre-Approval

Departmental Approver, Additional Approver, and Next Higher Authority roles are requested through Financial Services at: https://financialservices.umbc.edu/9-2-departmental-approval-instructions/